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Supporting retail customers by engaging with end users
CRIMPiT founder Mike Harper knows the power of social when it comes to driving sales.
The CRIMPiT is a hugely popular housewares gadget that first launched on e-commerce, but is selling fast in high street stores now too - and here, Mike outlines how a proactive and interactive marketing strategy supports both. It was because of sporting dietary demands that the idea for the CRIMPiT was born, when my co-founder Ian needed to create a better early morning snack for his son before his 4am swimming meets. Ian set about creating a tool that would help him to make pre-prepared sandwiches that could be popped in the toaster to heat up when ready to eat - making for a much more appealing experience than a soggy sandwich thrown together under the fridge light at 3:30am! Within an amazing six months, the CRIMPiT
was ready and Ian and I were taking the product to market. The Facebook ads rolled out and the orders began to roll in. We packed orders on our kitchen tables, with friends and family pitching in.
The key to the CRIMPiT’s success was being able to demonstrate it in front of people, something which we knew would be a key factor, whether people were buying online or in-store. As such, social media played a big role in our promotional strategy from the start. The CRIMPiT is one of those things you don’t think you need, but once you try it, you love it. It genuinely makes life easier, but we needed people to SHOW people how easy and flexible it is. Working with just a handful of influencers, we started to build up social media content that showed how easy it is to use – and things completely snowballed. The product orders started flying in. We increased production. Media coverage started to appear, with CRIMPiT featuring in The Mail, The Times, The Guardian, in food magazines and on radio shows.
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Facebook groups started popping up, with users sharing their favourite recipe ideas, both sweet and savoury. We started getting celebrity endorsements, including the likes of Mrs Hinch and Davina McCall. Soon the business outgrew the kitchen tables and so the move to a small warehouse was made. Six months later, the business outgrew that warehouse. Now residing in a 4,000 square foot warehouse in the northwest with 8 full time employees and 30 part time, it’s a remarkable success story from humble beginnings. Proudly Made in Britain, the CRIMPiT team supports the local economy while looking after the quality of the product.
Sandwich Thins? Toasties are one thing - but wraps are quite another, and it turns out most of us struggle to create neat wraps at home, wraps that will not unfold, spill, create mess and waste food.
The answer of course is yes - and we have.
With the same iconic yellow and grey design and ease of use, as well as high quality food grade plastic, the new CRIMPiT Wrap Sealer was created – and is already proving very popular. It’s not just a device for making a wrap, it’s a tool to create Calzones, Burritos, Enchiladas, Kebabs and Pasties. And just like last time, end users are sharing their creations far and wide. When you get a recurring message from your customers, you have to respond. It’s why focus groups are so important and why interactive community groups and social media are so powerful – you get real, immediate feedback and you can invent, improve, and expand with confidence that there is already an appetite. Thousands of five-star reviews on Trustpilot and millions of shares across social media are testament to this.
Our online community is hugely engaged and this is a key factor for any product looking to stand out, online or on-shelf. Social media first enabled us to show people how to use our product and now it gives people the chance to talk directly to us about it. And of course, listening to your audience is vital for business growth. It helped us launch our first product and now it’s led to the next stage in our business journey – launching the new CRIMPiT Wrap Sealer. Could we, we were asked in the Facebook group, create a CRIMPiT for wraps as well as
In a short space of time, we’ve gone from looking at a convenient swimming snack for Ian’s son to selling on a global scale. We’ve listened to our customers and we now have a range of products, sold online but also stocked in high street retailers such as Oliver Bonas, Robert Dyas and Lakeland. We’re partnering with packaging companies and charities to raise awareness of different food issues and we have a community of hundreds of thousand of people in our Facebook group, sharing ideas, recipes and inspiration. We’ve just launched in the USA. The CRIMPiT community was built online and it’s helping us grow globally. We love it. It shows the importance of social media marketing, and listening to your consumers as you support your retail customers.
APRIL 2024 DIY WEEK 27
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